


Fateful Encounters

by epsilonAbsol



Series: epsilonAbsol's Prince Lore Collection [2]
Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon - All Media Types, Pokemon Ranger
Genre: Shadows of Almia, pokemon ranger lore, whats up kids im back at it again with the prince lore
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-24
Updated: 2017-10-16
Packaged: 2019-01-04 16:56:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 7,122
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12172998
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/epsilonAbsol/pseuds/epsilonAbsol
Summary: The three gems, guarded by three powerful pokemon, were items essential to the success of Operation Brighton. But how did those pokemon come to guard the gems? Why did they remain with them for hundreds of years?This is the story of how those pokemon met the princes, and why they dedicated themselves to protecting each of them.





	1. Morgan and Riolu

**Author's Note:**

> This is entirely self-indulgent. To be honest, I just didn't want to abandon these characters I like them too much lol. Morgan's my son and I love him, hope y'all enjoy tiny Morgan as much as I do c:

Morgan loved winter. He loved the sharpness of the cold air that felt so refreshing compared to the stuffiness inside the castle. He loved being able to have both a fire in the hearth and an open window so he could enjoy that fresh air while also enjoying the warmth of the fire. He loved waking up to see frost on the glass of his windows, icicles hanging from above it, and blankets of snow covering the world outside.

At nine years old, his main concerns were how long it’d be until he could go outside and play in the snow and whether or not his brothers would go with him. He was told as long as at least one of them did, Morgan could go as far from the castle as he wanted, and his favorite place was at the edge of the frozen lake. There was a collection of large rocks that caused the snow to form a massive snowdrift, which Morgan would dig a hole into and build the greatest snow fort that anyone had ever seen. Or at least, the greatest one that he’d seen. Blaine and Raleigh never put as much heart into theirs, even when they had been more eager to go with him. Morgan got the feeling that they had started actively trying to avoid going with him in the past couple years. Of course, that wouldn’t stop him from trying to convince them.

Raleigh was the most difficult, claiming to have “responsibilities” that kept him busy. The thing was, whenever Morgan asked him what those responsibilities were, he just told him, “You’ll find out when _you’re_ fifteen.” Morgan thought that was a dumb excuse, and he didn’t think twice about letting Raleigh know that, but all he ever did was shrug and ignore him. If Morgan continued to pester him, he’d snap at him to go bother someone else.

Blaine was easier to convince, but not by much. Mostly because he had a harder time coming up with excuses. At thirteen, he didn’t have anything important to do, and Morgan knew it. He’d asked one of their teachers what he’d have to do in the future, and she told him that he just had to worry about learning for now. It was only when he turned fourteen that he’d start learning what it was really like to be in court because until then, it was expected that he and his brothers would be too rambunctious. The first time Blaine had tried to use that excuse, Morgan had called him on it, using some of the exact wording that his teacher had used, and he had looked so frustrated. He tried to claim that he was just “more mature,” but Morgan could tell that he was lying. Blaine was _really_ bad at that. Blaine had stormed off after Morgan had called him out, but he knew that he wouldn’t try that excuse again.

Eventually, Morgan figured out that the best time to bring it up was whenever he and the rest of his family managed to sit down together for any meal. Then, if his brothers tried to make an excuse as to why they couldn’t go, their father could make the executive decision that they _could_. “After all,” he’d say, “you’ve both been working hard recently, you could use a break.”

Blaine and Raleigh both knew that Morgan planned that, and later they would send him several dirty looks, but Morgan would only grin victoriously back at them. He had gotten what he wanted, so it didn’t matter.

On the occasions that he got both of his brothers to go with him, neither of them were really interested in being there. They usually just let Morgan do his own thing until they got too cold and started trying to get Morgan to finish up, using both words and snowballs as their persuasion methods. Snowballs were Morgan’s primary (and only) rebuttal.

But one day, Morgan was busy building up the walls of his fort when he heard a distant cracking sound. He poked his head up to see what it could’ve been, only to see his brothers not paying attention and a small blue shape on the ice of the frozen lake. It didn’t take a genius to make the connection between ice and the cracking sound that he’d just heard.

He didn’t bother telling his brothers what he was going to do. Instead, he climbed up the rocks that formed the back wall of his fort and leapt down (so he didn’t ruin the walls he’d spent all morning building, of course), heading toward the blue shape. He couldn’t identify exactly what it was, but the fact that it was moving suggested that it was a pokemon, and that crack made it sound like it was only a matter of time before the ice broke and the pokemon fell into freezing cold water. Besides, what help would his brothers be? They’d probably make the ice break faster. Morgan was the lightest, so he’d have the best chance of helping it.

The ice at the edges of the lake was the thickest, so Morgan could easily walk across it standing up. He still had to be careful not to slip, of course, but Morgan had lots of experience with walking on ice. He just had to mind where his feet were and make sure that he was stable before taking his next step. It wasn’t nearly as difficult as other people around the castle made it out to be.

By the time his brothers noticed what he was doing, he was already far enough out that they wouldn’t be able to catch him. Since they didn’t want to be outside with him and pretty much just sat out there until Morgan was done, they would surely slip and fall once they got on the ice. They didn’t have the amount of practice that Morgan had. All they could do was shout, “Morgan! What do you think you’re doing!?”

Morgan, of course, was more than happy to ignore them. They’d always ignored him, after all. He could almost think of it as a tiny sort of revenge. He just kept walking, right up until he heard the ice creaking. It wasn’t cracking, but the creaking came right before the cracking. He had to be careful to make sure he didn’t break the ice himself. He’d learned from experience that getting down lower made the ice creak less, so Morgan got down on his hands and knees to continue forward in a crawl. Eventually, he got close enough to the blue pokemon to see it clearly, a small canine pokemon with black fur around its eyes and on its ears. Morgan remembered learning about a pokemon like this, and he was pretty sure the name started with an r, but he couldn’t remember it exactly.

More important than what the pokemon was called were the white cracks in the ice that seemed centered under it. It kept looking down at them, but Morgan got the feeling that it had noticed him since he’d started walking across the ice “Hey,” Morgan called, keeping his tone gentle so he wouldn’t spook it into moving more and possibly breaking the fragile ice. “I’m gonna help you get off this lake, okay?” It looked like the pokemon was giving him an uncertain look, but Morgan tried to assure it, “It’s okay, I know how to move across the ice right. Just follow me, okay?”

The pokemon started taking a tentative step forward, but the cracking sound became louder again, and Morgan quickly gestured for it to stop moving. “No, no! You’ve gotta get on your belly!” He said urgently, slowly dropping down to lay on his stomach. “Like this!” As he watched the pokemon slowly copy him, he said, “Yeah, that’s it. Now you just gotta use your legs to push yourself forward.” It looked scared, but Morgan encouraged, “Go on, you’ll be fine! You can go as slow as you want.”

It started out pushing itself forward slowly, but once it got far enough away from the cracks, it started moving toward Morgan more quickly until it reached him and immediately sidled up to Morgan’s side. He looked down under his arm at it, laughing, “We can’t stay here, silly, we’re in the middle of the lake. We’ve still gotta get back!” There was a quiet whine from it, and Morgan said, “This part is _way_ easier than what you just crossed, trust me. There’s no cracks this way! And once we get close enough to the shore, we can get up and walk like normal!”

He felt the pokemon shiver intensely, and Morgan said, “Yeah, it’s pretty cold. Once we get to the edge, you can come home with me and we can get you warmed up, what do you think of that?” There was no response but silence, and then Morgan said, “I mean, there’s also my snow fort, but that’s a lot colder, I think you’d probably like my home better than that.” He picked himself up off of the ice, returning to his hands and knees to start moving again. “Anyway, we’ve gotta get off this lake. Let’s get moving!”

The pokemon followed him slowly and still shivering, but it followed him. Morgan’s hands were starting to feel like they were burning from the cold and his entire front was freezing and a little wet since he’d just laid down on solid ice. He couldn’t help but wonder what the pokemon felt like, considering it didn’t really have any protection from the cold other than its fur. If it was cold for Morgan, it must be absolutely freezing for the pokemon.

When they finally reached the shore, they were standing up straight, although Morgan kept clenching and unclenching his hands, feeling some weird fascination with the burning sensation that caused, and the pokemon was shivering even more violently than before. Only Blaine was standing there waiting for him, and Morgan, teeth chattering, asked, “Wh-Where’s Raleigh?”

Blaine looked absolutely furious as he snapped, “He went to go get father and tell him that you just _decided_ to go for a walk out on a frozen lake! What were you thinking?” Morgan opened his mouth to respond, but Blaine cut him off before he could. “Don’t say it. Don’t you _dare_ say anything, save it for when _father_ wants to hear about what you did.” A few seconds later, he started toward Morgan, but the little blue pokemon put itself between Morgan and his brother and growled defensively.

Both brothers looked down at it in surprise, but Morgan just reached down to pet it between its ears. “It’s okay, this is just my brother.” It still eyed Blaine suspiciously, but it stopped growling, which made Blaine look at Morgan in a weird way.

Shortly after, two Rapidash appeared, with Raleigh riding one and their father riding the other. Raleigh stayed on his Rapidash shooting glares at Morgan, but their father dismounted immediately, heading straight for Morgan. He put his hands on his youngest son’s shoulders and asked, “Are you alright?” When Morgan nodded, he stood up straight again and said, “Good. Now come on, it’s time to leave.”

“But-”

“No, Morgan. You just went halfway out onto a frozen lake, we have no way of knowing how thin that ice is. What would we have done if you had fallen in? It’s time to go. And in the future, you’re not to go out of sight of the castle walls.”

No matter how unfair Morgan thought that sounded, he insisted, “That’s not what I was gonna say! I was gonna say that I found this little guy on the ice!” He gestured at the pokemon, looking just as cold and scared as it had out on the lake, and continued, “Can’t we take him with us? Just to get him warm?”

The king looked down at the pokemon next to his son, raising an eyebrow as he recognized it. It wasn’t a common sight to see Riolu in any part of the kingdom, and just from how the pokemon was standing, the king could tell that it had taken a shine to the youngest prince. After giving it a moment’s thought, he nodded. “Yes, you can bring him. As long as it is willing, of course.”

The Riolu barked, taking another step closer to Morgan. “I suppose that settles it then,” the king said decisively. “Now come on. Let’s all get back to the castle.” He lifted Morgan onto the Rapidash and did the same for the Riolu before getting on himself. Blaine joined Raleigh, both looking equally frustrated, and they all finally headed home.


	2. Raleigh and Heatran

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The main reason why I had trouble with this chapter was because I highkey forgot what I wrote about him in the first fic lmao. Once I got started though it got easier. Hope it's good and hope y'all enjoy him!

Raleigh quickly came to love Boyleland.

Not because he hadn’t loved his previous home, he had, but Boyleland was so different in the best ways. It was _always_ warm, and the mountainous terrain made riding Rapidash that much more exciting. There was so much life on the island, which Raleigh had been told was because the volcano provided all the fertile soil they could need. The views from the higher parts of the volcano were incredible, and honestly, the thrill of the climb and the view were both reasons that he made the climb every morning without fail.

He had started making the climb only a few days after he had arrived in Boyleland. He had still been angry about being sent away, still angry that his brothers had been part of the reason why it had happened, and _particularly_ angry that their father had allowed Morgan to stay. Why had _he_ been allowed to stay? Their father was likely playing favorites, and because of that Raleigh couldn’t help but blame Morgan for everything that had happened more than he blamed Blaine.

Raleigh had never been good at keeping his emotions in check, feeling his fury like adrenaline that would never allow him to stay in one place for long. It always given him the intense urge to _move_. Eventually, it got to be too much to contain and he had just started walking toward the mountain and eventually he found himself at a ledge on the eastern side. He’d watched the sun rise over the ocean and the fields, and he’d felt a calm settle over him, pleasant but only lasting a moment.

It was because of his morning routine that he’d been able to prevent a potential disaster. He’d been climbing, and as he neared his usual stopping point, he found footprints that were very clearly not his own. It was rare that he ever passed anyone on his way to the mountain itself, since everyone else was asleep, so the fact that anyone had climbed up the mountain before even Raleigh had was very strange.

He decided to follow the footprints up a path that led to an even higher part of the mountain, somewhere closer to the summit, and to a cave that opened to the volcano’s interior. Even just standing outside of the cave, the temperature difference was shocking, causing sweat to form on Raleigh’s brow almost immediately. There was an orange glow coming from somewhere deeper inside, and the footprints still led onward. It was obvious that something was going on, and regardless of what it was, Raleigh intended to find out.

The heat only became more intense the further Raleigh progressed, but luckily he didn’t have to go too far. Shortly inside the cave, he found a man collapsed on the ground, arms outstretched like he had been reaching for something, and a small orange stone resting a few feet away.

On impulse, he reached over and picked it up. He almost dropped it, not expecting the amount of heat that was radiating off of it, but after his initial surprise, he found that it wasn’t too hot to hold. It was like the stones that made the edge of a lit hearth: hot, but not hot enough to burn. The stone itself didn’t look too special; it wasn’t big and it wasn’t sparkly, but considering that someone had entered the volcano itself and seemed to be trying to leave with it, it couldn’t just be a simple rock. The only way he figured that he could learn anything about it was to get the guy out of the volcano and see if he could get any information out of him.

He set the stone on the ground for a moment as he lifted the man over his shoulder, then picked it up again before heading back for the exit. When they were far enough away from the cave for the morning air to actually feel cool again, Raleigh put the man down to wait and see if he would cool down enough to wake up. He leaned against the side of the volcano, examining the stone again. Now that he was looking at it in light that wasn’t the orange glow of rivers of magma, he could see that the stone had a similar orange glow, only slightly muted. It was strange, and Raleigh couldn’t help but wonder if there was magma trapped inside the stone; simultaneously hot enough for warmth to radiate through the rock, but not hot enough to melt the cooler stone surrounding it.

The man eventually started to come to, groaning and holding his head. Raleigh could imagine that he would be dehydrated after passing out in a volcanic cave, so he just looked down at him and asked, “Hey, you need some water?”

His voice startled the guy so bad he fell over. He looked up at Raleigh with the most startled and nervous expression that he’d ever seen, and asked with a shaky voice, “Wh- what are you doing up here? Who are you?”

“I always come here in the mornings, and who I am isn’t important.” If this guy couldn’t recognize him as one of the princes of Almia, that wasn’t his problem. If anything, it would make it easier to get answers without making the guy panic even more. He just wanted to figure out what the stone was and why this guy wanted it so badly. “You were passed out in a fucking cave, do you need some water or what?” When he nodded slowly, Raleigh just dropped his waterskin in his lap, and the guy started drinking it as quickly as was humanly possible. He gave the guy a slightly judgmental look, but he didn’t seem to notice. He pushed himself off the wall, and crossed his arms before saying, “Alright, I’ve got a few questions for you. The hell were you doing in a volcanic cave before the sun was even up?”

He looked back up at him with that same nervous expression and stammered a very unconvincing, “N-nothing. I wasn’t doing anything.”

“Sure you weren’t. Then I guess you don’t know anything about this.” He held up the stone casually, turning it over in his hands like it was only mildly interesting. The guy’s eyes suddenly went wide, and he lurched forward to grab at it, but Raleigh just pulled it out of his reach with a smug expression. “So you do know something about it.”

“Yes! You must give it to me!”

“How about you tell me what it is first?”

“Something that I must get away from here as quickly as I can!”

“That doesn’t tell me what it is.”

The man looked frustrated with Raleigh’s questioning, and said, “The magma stone! Now give it to me, and I’ll be on my way!”

Raleigh raised a suspicious eyebrow at him. “What’s so special about it? Why’d you have to come up a mountain at the asscrack of dawn to get a rock and panic when you can’t get away with it?” The man refused to respond, so Raleigh just shrugged and turned around, “Alright, guess you’re not getting this. I’ll just go put it back in the cave.”

“No! You can’t!”

“You can’t tell me what to do.”

“It will kill us if we don’t get away now!”

Raleigh paused, looking back at him with his suspicion rising even more. “What do you mean, ‘it will kill us?’” At that moment, a tremor shook the volcano, and Raleigh had to brace himself against the mountainside in order to keep his balance. A loud, screeching roar came from the direction of the cave, and the man paled. Raleigh looked to the cave and then back at the man, and he demanded, “What did you do?” He started to answer, but Raleigh cut him off, “Never mind, you’ll tell me later. Right now, I’m going to go fix whatever the fuck _you_ caused.”

“You can’t go back in there!”

“Pretty sure I _just_ told you that you can’t tell me what to do. And depending on what I find in there, I’ll decide whether or not to have you thrown off the island.” The man made a strangled noise before struggling to his feet and heading down the mountain as quickly as he could. Raleigh turned to the cave, muttering, “Coward,” before heading inside.

The heat was even more intense than the first time he’d gone in, and he was constantly having to wipe sweat out of his eyes so he could see. He had to go deeper into the cave than he did the first time, and by the time he reached the point where the solid rock met a massive lake of magma, Raleigh could only look around to try to figure out what he had to do to fix something when he didn’t even know what it was he was fixing.

He suddenly heard the same screeching roar that he’d heard before come from behind him. He looked up to see a massive pokemon hanging from the cave’s ceiling, looking absolutely furious as it climbed down the wall to stand before him. Raleigh was sure that this was the ‘it’ that the man had said would kill them, but he was also sure that the only reason it was angry was because the stone had been taken out of the cave.

“Is this what you’re looking for?” Raleigh asked the pokemon, holding the stone up for it to see. The pokemon just made a low sound that Raleigh could only take as confirmation. “I’m sorry some idiot tried to steal this from you. I’m trying to return it now. Just tell me where it belongs.”

The pokemon only looked at him for a moment, then climbed back onto the wall until it stood over a part of the wall that jutted out at an angle that made it look somewhat like a table. It didn’t look natural, but if that was where the pokemon wanted the stone, Raleigh wasn’t about to refuse. He placed it on the ‘table,’ and immediately the pokemon seemed to calm. It looked at Raleigh in a manner that he could only assume was gratitude, and Raleigh promised, “I’ll deal with the thief. I swear to you, he won’t attempt to steal anything again.”

That seemed to appease the pokemon, and it crossed the lake of lava to another piece of solid rock before settling on it and closing its eyes.

As it went to sleep, Raleigh turned and left. He had a thief to find.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> anyone: going into the volcano is dangerous and you should never do it  
> raleigh: hold my beer
> 
> This is probably not the only interaction Raleigh has with Heatran, Heatran just kinda tolerates Raleigh more now that he helped it with something. Like it kinda starts out as a quid pro quo kinda deal at first, then after a while they bond somehow. Also he finds out what Heatran is called after he gets back to the village in Boyleland, somebody tells him once he tells them about what happened.


	3. Blaine and Cresselia

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So midterms are fun. Sorry about the wait for this one, I'm sure everyone was just dying to know what happens with the yellow boy lmao. Enjoy the chapter y'all

When the letter from Almia Castle arrived in Haruba village, Blaine had been tempted to “lose” it in the desert and pretend that he had never received it.

He knew that there were only two people that it could possibly be from, especially after he’d learned that Morgan had been allowed to stay. It would have been one thing if all three brothers had been sent away, forced to find new homes for themselves, but it was _entirely_ different when it became obvious that their father was playing favorites. He may have sent a letter previously, asking him to return, but he had refused - feeling too insulted about being exiled in the first place. He couldn’t say that he regretted that decision either. He may not have liked the amount of sand, the intensity of the sun, and the surprising cold of the nights initially, but once he’d started getting tips from the people he met and actually doing what they said, it became _far_ more tolerable. Eventually, the desert beganfeeling like home. If the letter contained another request from his father to return to the castle, Blaine would refuse again without hesitation.

The other person that it could be from was someone that Blaine outright refused to acknowledge. Morgan had been the one constantly criticizing him for his alleged "excess pride," all while being so gullible and blind to danger that he would walk into obvious traps without even the _slightest_ bit of suspicion. It was almost incomprehensible how he could be so stupid. If Morgan was the one who had written the letter, Blaine wanted _nothing_ to do with it.

He didn’t give in to the temptation though. He didn’t open it either. He simply left it sitting on a table where it would remain until it became covered by other papers and things and was forgotten.

At least, that had been his plan.

The night after the letter arrived, Blaine had a dream. He had a dream that he was in the desert, looking up at the moon with a letter - no, _the_ letter - in hand. For once, the desert was completely still, even the Skorupi weren’t bursting out of the sand to attack anything that passed. Eventually, he looked down at the letter, and he had the unnerving feeling that he _needed_ to open it. He didn’t want to, but he felt like it was absolutely essential that he did. He had just begun opening it, barely broken the seal, when he heard a chiming sound, and soft pink light shone from behind him.

He woke up confused, still feeling that strange urge to open the letter, but he ignored it. He didn’t want to know what it contained. He didn’t care what his father or his brother wanted to say to him. If they had wanted his help with something, maybe they should have thought of it before he banished him from the castle or before he insulted him all the time.

As he went about his business, several villagers that he knew asked him about the letter. He told them he didn’t open it, and they looked more concerned than Blaine would have expected. “I truly think that you should open it, your highness,” one of them had said. “The courier brought rumors with him. They say that your father has been acting strangely, that he has become increasingly harsh in the past few months. If whoever wrote that letter knows anything more, I think it would be best that you read it.”

The idea of the letter containing something important was too reminiscent of that feeling of urgency his dream had left him with, and that made Blaine uncomfortable. It had just been a dream, it couldn’t possibly mean anything. A dream was just something a fantasy that a person made up while they slept, not something that had a deeper meaning or warning. “I’m sure someone else will come with more news,” Blaine said, ignoring the feeling yet again. “I’m not opening it.”

“Then please, your highness,” the villager begged, “let someone else read it! We must know what is happening on the mainland!”

“I said someone else will come with news,” Blaine snapped, his impatience and stubbornness getting the better of him. “If you’ll excuse me,” he muttered, walking away from the conversation without another word. He wasn’t going to look at the letter. He wasn’t going to let anyone _else_ open the letter either. If something was _really_ happening, they’d find out about it eventually. From a source that _wasn’t_ his brother.

Just to make sure no one would read it, he decided to leave it somewhere deep, _deep_ in the desert. He’d make the trek later that night. That way no one would notice what he was doing and try to stop him.

That night, he began his journey through the sand, holding the letter tightly in his hand. He was surely crumpling the paper, but he didn’t care. He wanted the damned thing out of his life and out of his hands. He _wouldn’t_ let some _dream_ get to him so much that he would allow himself to become involved with his family again. He’d never really gotten along with his brothers anyway. He didn’t know what became of them other than that Morgan was still at home - no, at _the castle_ , Blaine reminded himself. It wasn’t his home anymore, the desert was. And Raleigh was somewhere in Boyleland, doing who _knows_ what. Blaine didn’t know, and he didn’t _want_ to know. Let them do whatever they wanted, he didn’t care.

Why would _Morgan_ ever write to him anyway? They had been split up because they had constantly been fighting, what reason could Morgan possibly have to send him _anything?_ The letter _had_ to be just another one from his father, begging him to come back.

He had been walking for a while, the village nowhere in sight, but his footprints still visible. The wind hadn’t blown the sand to cover them, so the slight divots where the sand had been disturbed were, thankfully, still visible.

He wasn’t sure if it was the general chill of a desert night that made the hairs on his arms rise or the realization that the wind wasn’t blowing.

It had just been a dream. It didn’t mean anything. The wind being still didn’t mean that his dream was coming true, it just meant that the wind wasn’t blowing. It was just a coincidence. He had to believe that.

He tried to ignore the growing feeling of doubt, and tried his best to not look at the moon before dropping the letter into the sand. But it was hard to ignore the moon, especially when it was the one thing giving him any light to see by. He found himself looking up at it, despite his best efforts, and clenched his fist around the letter even more tightly, enjoying the sound of it crinkling even more. Curse the moon, curse his dreams, curse his _fucking_ family, he didn’t need _any_ of them in his life.

He’d raised his arm to throw the letter into the ground - more forceful than necessary, sure, but it would feel _so_ much more satisfying than simply letting it drop - when he heard that chiming sound, accompanied by the same soft light that he remembered from his dream. He refused to turn around. He _refused_ to acknowledge that this was yet another aspect of his dream coming true right in front of him.

He was already shaking with frustration and rage when he heard the chiming sound happen _again_. He finally turned around, shouting, _“Stop doing that!”_ His expression abruptly changed once he saw the source of the noise, his anger suddenly given pause. A beautiful pink and yellow pokemon floated before him, staring at him passively. It seemed to glow in the moonlight, the light from its tail glowing outward and fading as it got farther away, only to be replaced by another wave of light. As he stared at the pokemon, the pokemon stared back at him. It was a moment of sheer stillness, and it felt like it lasted an eternity.

Eventually, Blaine felt his irritation return. “Were you the reason why I had that dream?” The pokemon simply stared at him, and he got the feeling that it was a confirmation. “Why? Are you trying to get me to read this?” He asked, aggressively holding up the crumpled letter. The pokemon made its chiming cry, and that was also answer enough. “I’m not doing it,” Blaine insisted. “I’m _not_. They made it clear that they wanted nothing to do with me when I was sent away, I _don’t_ have to look at anything they send me!” It continued to watch him, and he felt judgment in its gaze. “What would _you_ know about any of this? You’re a _pokemon_ , how would you be able to understand what happened?” Chimes. _Again_. “Why are you so dead-set on me reading this fucking letter anyway?”

An image suddenly flashed in his mind of a shadow falling over the entire castle and spreading all over Almia.

It was gone as quickly as it came, and Blaine looked at the pokemon curiously, and asked, “What- What was that?” It looked pointedly at the letter in Blaine’s hand. He looked down at it as well, and despite all of his bitterness toward his family… he couldn’t help his curiosity now.

Slowly, by combined light of the moon and the pokemon, he opened the letter.

_“Oh,”_ he whispered after a moment. “I need to get home.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this one was kinda different in that I couldn't think of anything that Blaine could do to help Cresselia, so I kinda just went with the idea that Cresselia and Darkrai are natural opponents, so she'd want to put a stop to that and the best way to do that was to get Blaine to actually go back and help his brother figure out how to confront their father? It makes sense to me anyway. Also, since I gave Blaine the flaw of pride, I figured he'd be the one to hold on to his anger the longest. Raleigh probably got over himself enough to go of his own volition, but Blaine would need a LOT of convincing, so that's what Cresselia did. I hope I captured that well enough. Anyway, that's it for my series of how the princes met their protection pokemon! Hope you enjoyed my ideas C:


	4. Lucius and Darkrai

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> YALL PROBABLY THOUGHT I WAS DONE NO SIR NO SIR I HAD ONE MORE CARD UP MY SLEEVE AS A #SURPRISE
> 
> It's Almia Day in Ranger Week 2017, so here's another installment in my prince lore bullshit lol
> 
> Have a young and inexperienced King Lucius and his wife whom I have named Queen Astraea, she's from Kalos and I love her. What can I say? I love parents who love each other and have a healthy relationship. I'm not too great at writing romance but I hope I did a good enough job with this lol pls enjoy my attempts at explaining why Darkrai was so loyal to Lucius and decided to guard the shadow crystal even without being asked

The weight of a crown was heavy on the head of a king, especially one only a few months into his reign. There were so many responsibilities on his shoulders and all of them needed to be done properly and _well_ lest the entire kingdom fall into chaos and ruin.

It was a lot of pressure to put on a man of barely twenty.

Lucius was sure that he would have fallen apart from stress had he not had his wife at his side. Astraea was the only one capable of making him relax, the only one who could make him laugh after a long, trying day. She always sat near him during political meetings - Kalos always seemed to create master diplomats - and Lucius could not be more grateful for her presence. If he had been required to conduct international discussions alone, he surely would have ruined something or another already.

It also didn’t hurt that she would mock some of their visitors once they were alone, making fun of how some of them put on airs and how others would make ridiculous demands and _actually_ expect Almia to accept their terms. Astraea knew what she was doing, both politically and personally, and Lucius had to admire her for it. His responsibilities involved deciding new laws and taxes and dispensing justice, and he felt like an absolute disaster.

He loved his wife with all his heart, so when he noticed that she began having horrible dreams every single night - ones that she had been reluctant to tell him about - he sent messengers out to all corners of Almia and even some abroad in order to find anything that might help her. Soon, he began to hear of rumors reporting that other people in the castle were also experiencing similar nightmares, and he began to suspect that something strange was going on - something that was causing the nightmares for everyone. Nearly _everyone_ in the castle seemed just as exhausted as he felt, and he wouldn’t wish that on his worst enemy. So it had been for the best that he had sent out those messengers. If they found anything, he wouldn’t only be helping Astraea, he’d be helping everyone affected by the dreams.

One night, he convinced Astraea to describe what she saw in her dreams, and she only told him that she saw shadows, living shadows that engulfed everything in its path - adults, children, and even pokemon- and all she heard from inside the darkness were blood-curdling screams of fear and cries of distressed pokemon. Eventually, she too became trapped in the shadows, and she didn’t have the words to describe it. She usually woke up shortly after.

He couldn’t ask others in the castle to describe their dreams - it probably wasn’t appropriate for a king to pry into the lives of the people - so he couldn’t know if they were having the same dreams as his wife. But he could suspect, and if his suspicions were correct, then he might have solutions once the messengers returned.

They came back in a slow, irregular pattern. First one who had traveled to Kalos returned with nothing. Then one who had gone to Oblivia returned with nothing. Fiore, with nothing. It was only when the one who went to Sinnoh returned did he finally hear of something that might be an answer.

The messenger reported, “There is a legend in Sinnoh about a pair of pokemon that influence their dreams. One brings good dreams, the other brings nightmares. Whenever the nightmare pokemon begins causing trouble, the lunar pokemon - that is what they call the one that brings good dreams - comes and chases the nightmare pokemon away to Newmoon Island.”

Lucius considered what he was saying, and asked, “How long do the nightmares last until the lunar pokemon comes?”

“I cannot say, sire. The people I spoke to said that it varies.”

The king hummed thoughtfully, then looked back to the messenger. “Thank you. This is useful information.” After an embarrassingly long pause, Lucius not knowing what exactly to say next, he added, “You may go. You must be tired after such a long journey, you should go rest.”

The messenger looked confused for a moment, then said with awkward confusion coloring his tone, “Thank you, sire.” The messenger then left, and Lucius left soon after, hoping to avoid any _more_ interactions like that. For a king, he sure was horrible at being regal.

He found Astraea as quickly as he could, and as soon as she saw him, she knew what he was feeling. She opened her arms to him, and he rested his head on her shoulder muttering, “How exactly is one supposed to act like a king?”

Astraea rubbed his back consolingly. “You’re doing fine, Lucius. You’re too hard on yourself.”

“I am not, I am just as hard as I need to be.”

Astraea sighed, pulling away and making her husband look her in the eyes. “You _have_ to relax. Even if you think you are not doing good enough now, you will get used to ruling eventually. You are doing _fine_. Trust me.”

Lucius took a deep breath, then exhaled slowly. “Okay. If you say so.”

She smiled and patted her husband’s face. “I do say so. Trust your wife.”

“What did I do to deserve you?”

Astraea laughed and kissed him. “Nothing. You just got lucky.”

* * *

 That night, Astraea had another one of her nightmares. That was when Lucius decided that he had had enough of this, she didn’t deserve to suffer like this every night because some pokemon was causing trouble. He would go searching for it, but only after he calmed his wife and assured her that things were alright and the shadows were not consuming everything in their path.

It was only after he started searching that he realized that looking for a nightmare pokemon _at night_ might be more difficult than he thought. If it was hiding in the shadows, he might not even be able to see it. But maybe if he went to the darkest places he could find, he’d be able to feel its gaze on him.

Eventually, after wandering around the dark castle for what must have been hours, he felt something. He’d entered a tower near the center of the castle, and suddenly the feeling of eyes on him came over him - something that he’d become _very_ familiar with since he was crowned. He looked around the small room at the top of the tower, seeing nothing, before commanding in the most kingly voice he could muster, “I know you’re there. Show yourself.”

A strange, almost whispered growl echoed around the room, and Lucius watched as the shadows seemed solidify, becoming a ghostly black pokemon that floated before him. Lucius wouldn’t be frightened by it though. He needed to confront this pokemon. Not only because he was the king, but for Astraea’s sake.

“I have been told that you are the pokemon who causes people to have nightmares. Is this true?” The pokemon appeared to make a slight nod, which prompted Lucius to continue, now somewhat hostile because it _was_ the cause of his wife’s suffering. “And is it your intention to continue causing these nightmares for some reason?” The pokemon looked away, it’s eyes containing something like shame, and Lucius was stunned for a moment. Was it possible that it didn’t _want_ to be causing this kind of trouble?

“If it is not your intention, then what _is?_ ” It let out the same growling sound that it had made before, and Lucius could see in his mind’s eye a glowing pokemon floating between it and the place to which it wanted to escape. It had been forced to flee elsewhere, and the closest place it could find was there in Almia, in the shadows of the castle’s towers. “You are hiding from the lunar pokemon,” Lucius breathed, looking at the pokemon with newfound pity.

This time, the growling sound was softer, sounding like a confirmation. Lucius had to weigh his options. On one hand, he now held pity for the pokemon, but on the other, he could not allow it to stay and cause nightmares for everyone in the castle. There had to be something that he could do, something that didn’t involve sending it back to face the lunar pokemon again. He had to think fairly hard, but eventually he had an idea.

“You cannot stay here,” he said firmly, “but I can tell you about somewhere else in Almia where you may be able to hide.” The pokemon looked at him curiously, the idea of somewhere else welcome to it. “There is an island, far south from here. It is uninhabited because the currents are too strong for our boats to reach, but it might be a suitable substitute for your Newmoon Island.” Its eyes widened, and he continued, “If you can reach it, you may stay there to hide from that pokemon. You won’t be causing trouble there.”

The pokemon growled in what Lucius could only interpret as gratitude, and he received another thought - clearly from the pokemon - that told him, ‘When you need its aid, Darkrai will come.’

* * *

 Two mornings after Lucius’ interaction with Darkrai, Astraea told him that she had gotten the most rest that she had gotten in weeks. That alone had been good news that left Lucius in a good mood, but his day improved even further when his wife found him that afternoon and pulled him close and wrapped her arms around him tightly.

“Lucius!” She cried, her voice loud as she couldn’t control her joy. “We are going to have a child!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> writing awkward lucius was more fun than it had any right to be and having astraea be the one to get him to relax was just as fun. i didnt want lucius to be a totally competent king when he was like twenty, so i figured he would be Like This. learning to deal with responsibility is a process, especially when youve suddenly got THAT much responsibility.
> 
> anyway, fateful encounters is now #finished completely, i dont have any more surprise updates, BUT i do have one thing i wanna share. i wanted to have an idea of what this whole family looks like, so i used one of those online doll making things to do that for the princes and young lucius and astraea (making like actual older adults was. really weird and hard bc all the faces look SUPER young so yeah having older lucius was Not Happening).
> 
> heres the family photo! https://i.gyazo.com/62063143083f050d619502f47a59b905.png (pretend lucius' eyes are more brown and astraeas are more blue - these are the best faces i could find for any of them and they are definitely Not precisely what i had in mind.
> 
> I hope you enjoyed this series of oneshots as much as I enjoyed writing them! Thanks for reading!

**Author's Note:**

> My feelings rn? Pure satisfaction.


End file.
